Conflict in the Pacific: The Beginning

The Pacific War was about imperialism, both European and Japanese, and racism, again, both European and Japanese. To begin, please make sure that you have read both documents
The Problem of Japan (1921) and The Senate's Declaration of War
  • On your own evaluate one of the documents using APPARTS (see below for what this is all about).
  • Create a chart using APPARTS
  • Post in Google Docs as per instructions as usual, i.e. BLOCK LAST NAME FIRST NAME (English name) Name of document
  • Due in class, use 20 minutes of class for this.

The following strategy is adapted from Advanced Placement (AP) History courses to help students interpret primary sources more effectively. If you begin looking at primary sources in the same way, you will become more successful in analyzing and synthesizing primary sources in this class and social studies classes in the future. Please commit this mnemonic device to memory.

Author: Who created the source? What do you know about the author? What is the author’s point of view?
Place and Time: Where and when was the source produced? How might this affect the meaning of the source?
Prior Knowledge: Beyond information about the author and the context of its creation, what do you know that would help you further understand the primary source?
Audience: For whom was the source created and how might this affect the reliability of the source?
Reason: Why was this source produced at the time it was produced?
The Main Idea: What point is the source trying to convey?
Significance: Why is this source important? What inferences can you draw from this document? Ask yourself, “So what?” in relation to the question asked.


Sources for the Ant Farm for the Pacific War




Major Assignment: Ant Farm for the Pacific War

Gradiing Rubric
Block B 2011 Sem II Roles
Block F 2011 Sem II Roles

Right now you have found out why Japan went to war against European colonial powers, China and the United States. In this assignment you are to create a character from which you are going to experience the war. Your mission is to make diary entries in which you describe events, perceptions and your own experiences and thoughts during particular stages of the war. There will be a total of five entries in your diary.

Rules of the Ant Farm (READ THIS!):


  1. No murdering other students' characters--you CAN murder other students' characters' relations. In some cases this is going to an impossibility because you are going to be so far from each other, but a lot of you will cross paths, or at least you should seek to cross paths.
  2. IF you kill another student's character's family member, you MUST notify them on the discussion page of their character's wiki.
  3. You have to suffer the consequences of your actions in all following diaries. If you kill somebody in diary 1, it can't disappear in diary 2. Keep the story going. Remember that there are going to be war crimes trials, and or, even a very upset conscience due to bombing a civilian target.
  4. There should be a realistic, convincing reason for all actions you take. Take risks and show the fear and hatred of this period, yes; but be careful--don't be silly; be convincing.
  5. You can always converse and interact with more people than assigned. Don't hesitate to step outside of a perceived limitation of this activity access other people or characters that may not be party to your class (or any other class for that matter).
  6. If you read something that bothers you, privately inform the teacher. Your privacy will be protected.


Diary Grading Criteria:

  • Credibility / Realism: Are your character's actions believable to the reader? Do we understand the reasons he/she does what she does?
  • Historical Accuracy: Do you include convincing and accurate historical detailsin your "historical fiction"?
    • Include at least one detail (image or dialogue) that shows each of the following factors in your character's life:
      • social factors
      • political factors
      • economic factors
      • cultural factors
      • daily life
  • Creativity: Are your character, your events, and your writing imaginative, full of images, drama?
  • Collaboration: Are you giving good feedback--based on the feedback questions--to your assigned peer review partners?
  • An exemplary work done by Ashley K.

Character:
For this you are to create a wiki page in which you do the following:
Process: Copy the prompts below. Paste them to your own diary's wiki page. Then, use the prompts to help yourself imagine and create a character that is a) historically accurate, and b) interesting to you and us. Brainstorm (meaning write) your ideas for these prompts on your own wiki diary page. All entries stay on the same wikipage beginning with your character's description and then following with your entries in chronological order. See your class page for the characters that you will have. A Power Point notes for this section, War in the Pacific. You are responsible for this. Be patient it takes a lot of time to down load

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Occupation:
Appearance:
Location:
Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits:
Family:
Education:
Languages you speak:
Your main concerns at this time and in life:
Portrait (an image that you and we can live with):
Due: by the end of the class in which this is assigned
Below are some ideas for you
Character
A Korean girl (Age 13 in 1937)
An American pilot
An American high school boy (Age 17 in 1937)
A French woman that owns a rubber plantation in Indochina Block
A Japanese soldier in the Kwangtung Army
A Japanese high school student living in Tokyo (Age 17 in 1937)
A Chinese girl living in Nanking (Age 16)
A Chinese civilian living in Hong Kong
A Japanese mother of three sons living in Tokyo
A Japanese civilian living in Hiroshima
A Canadian boy living in Winnipeg (Age 18 in 1937)
A Japanese officer in the Imperial Army (Age 51 in 1937)
A Korean boy living in Seoul (Age 18 in 1937)
An British military officer stationed in Singapore

Diary Entry #1 and #2 (Japan's Invasion of China and the Start of War with the USA, 1937-41): Your first two diary entries will be from a day in the life of your character from the year 1937 right to December 8, 1941. Each of those two entries must reflect the tensions in East Asia (or at least in the world of your character's) during that time. Discuss how at least two events would be affecting your daily life (or at least your thoughts and feelings). For each character, the causes may certainly be different. Begin by reading and completing the reading above, Japan's Decision for War and Japan's Quest for Power. Get an idea of what was happening in the world, albeit a very brief and an Amerocentric view at that at Information Please: 1937.
Note: Each diary entry is to be a minimum of 400 words (short!!)
At lest one of your two entries should demonstrate how the invasion of China by Japan had an impact on you personally, your nation or at least your thoughts. One other element that must be present in your diary: your contact (or at least potential contact with another character). The contact with this person may be from just a distance, i.e. soldiers in combat. The point here, though, is that you communicate with the person whose character seems to offer the greatest likelihood of your at least crossing paths. Major leaders might not be able to add this element to their diaries given the lack of this occurrence being plausible. To do this use the discussion tab on a character from your list (Group 1 or 2). Communicate and collaborate with another character. From here establish how your lives might become intertwined.
Be sure to watch a documentary from the History Channel, //Century of Warfare: Oriental Blitzkrieg// (approximately the first 25 minutes at least, and all of it once you get to the entries below). This should help stimulate your creative ideas for writing in your diaries.


Diary Entry #3 and #4
Japan has enjoyed 100 days of victories over several colonial powers in East Asia, the French in Indochina, the British in Hong Kong, Malaya and Singapore (soon Burma), the Dutch in the Dutch East Indies, and the Americans in the Philippine Islands. Write about your feelings in regards to any one of the aforementioned victories, what it means for you, or your nation (or all three).
The Americans have fought hard battles through out the South Pacific. Their island hopping attack has brought their bombers within range of all Japanese cities. The Japanese Imperial Army is being beaten in the Philippines. All of its South-east Asian areas of occupation are being harassed by bombing and guerrilla fighting. Their shipping supply lines are nearly cut off completely. Okinawa is finally taken. The bomb is used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The USSR enters the war against the Japanese. The Pacific War ends. War trials soon begin, i.e. the Tokyo Trials. Write being sure to mention how the events during each of the periods described above has impacted on your life. Finally, be sure to conclude with remarks how the war has changed your life and what you hope for the future.
Each entry should be at least 350 words. Again, be able to connect with at least one other person in one of your entries.
These are your last two entries